Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
This is true. But Trump says there are "other ways" to accomplish this "third term" which he refuses to reveal. That is why I believe this is a contrived controversy to provide a distraction while they engage in some seriously criminal shit.If you are not eligible to be president you are not eligible to be vice president.
You also have to trust Vance would actually step down. I don't see a world where that trusts exists.I assume the way St. Donald of Mar-a-Lago thinks he can get around the 22nd Amendment is through a strained interpretation of the word "elected." As in 2028, JD Vance is the Presidential candidate and St. Donald is the VP candidate. This arrangement would be with the understanding that immediately upon inauguration, JD will resign the office of President and St. Donald will assume the Presidency for a 3rd time. I suspect that JD will be told: (a) you're young and (b) 2032 is your year. But JD will be shuted aside in 2028 for a VP "elected" by Congress of someone who Vlad "the Ras" Putin thinks is even more pliable and subservient and on whom there is even more Kompromate than either St. Donald or JD. Lindsay Graham?
I really think this is a narrative that needs to die. It’s up there with “Trump is playing 4-D chess.” This isn’t bait. It’s not subterfuge to throw us off his trail. Trump isn’t capable of subtlety or gamesmanship at this level.
This is the text of the 22nd Amendment:The 22nd Amendment makes it very clear that a president is limited to just two terms, period. That's the reason it was added to the Constitution, as it was added right after FDR was elected to a record four terms (and died early in his fourth term). Trump can talk about "methods for doing so" but the only legal and constitutional way for him to do it would be to get the 22nd Amendment repealed, which isn't happening, as among other things it would require the approval of three-quarters (38) of the 50 state legislatures, and given the number of blue states that ain't happening.
Of course if Trump has his way the Constitution and rule of law won't matter anymore (except his law) and the 22nd would likely be ignored, just as he's starting to ignore the rulings of federal judges. So there is that comforting thought.
I disagree. I think he knows he can direct media attention on this and with limited resources, editors and producers push other things down the page/off the screen. It’s simplistic and fits his MO imho.I really think this is a narrative that needs to die. It’s up there with “Trump is playing 4-D chess.” This isn’t bait. It’s not subterfuge to throw us off his trail. Trump isn’t capable of subtlety or gamesmanship at this level.
As with virtually everything he’s said since 2015–he’s being honest (at least insofar as he’s capable of honesty). He’s telegraphing his plans.
We’ve long been told by Rs that we should take Trump “seriously but not literally.” THAT is the bait. The truth is we should always take him literally.
But Stephen Miller or other neo-nazis in Trumps orbit are.Trump isn’t capable of subtlety or gamesmanship at this level.
I’d say it’s not a very effective strategy, then.I disagree. I think he knows he can direct media attention on this and with limited resources, editors and producers push other things down the page/off the screen. It’s simplistic and fits his MO imho.
Just because you and I are incapable of imagining what kind of disturbing/kinky/weird things "Bible Thumping" Republicans do in private or when they think no one is watching, doesn't mean that SVR or FSB doesn't know about them.You also have to trust Vance would actually step down. I don't see a world where that trusts exists.
Who’s normalizing it?I don't understand why they're normalizing this.
This is true. But Trump says there are "other ways" to accomplish this "third term" which he refuses to reveal. That is why I believe this is a contrived controversy to provide a distraction while they engage in some seriously criminal shit.
Who’s normalizing it?
I’ve been listening to NPR this AM, and every interviewee is basically screaming at the top of their lungs that this is not normal, that we’re in the midst of an authoritarian takeover that we’ve never seen in the history of the US, and that Trump’s rhetoric around seeking a 3rd term is just another example of the erosion of our democratic and constitutional norms.
Same with all other “traditional” media—I don’t see folks saying “ah, this is all perfectly normal, just standard US politics.”
That’s not been my experience.The media normalizes it in the way that they cover it. They talk about it as if the decision is up to Trump. It's not.
It's not that simple. There's also the 12th Amendment interaction. Let's go through this:This is the text of the 22nd Amendment:
"No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once."
So it doesn't say a President is limited to serving two terms; it says he's limited in the number of terms he can be elected to. I think it's fairly clear that this would not bar Trump from serving as President again if he legitimately got there in a way other than being elected as President: for example, if he were elected to VP or another position in the line of succession and then, under the existing succession rules, succeeded to the presidency due to the folks ahead of him in line dying, resigning, etc.
So to me, the obvious way for Trump to end up President again is to run as VP (or, I guess, get into the House and become speaker) and have the folks in front of him resign, or die, in his favor. (Or just leave the sitting President in place as a puppet and be the shadow president.) It would be a fairly transparent ploy to end up as President again, but it would be within the existing framework of the Constitution. Any solution where he purports to be elected as President again, though, is blatantly unconstitutional on its face.
That’s not been my experience.
That said, it absolutely IS up to Trump whether he wants to attempt to subvert our norms by seeking a 3rd term. There are ways that he can (and likely will) try to do just that. This isn’t an idle threat, just an attempt to gin up press.
both perspectives are accurate at times.I really think this is a narrative that needs to die. It’s up there with “Trump is playing 4-D chess.” This isn’t bait. It’s not subterfuge to throw us off his trail. Trump isn’t capable of subtlety or gamesmanship at this level.
As with virtually everything he’s said since 2015–he’s being honest (at least insofar as he’s capable of honesty). He’s telegraphing his plans.
We’ve long been told by Rs that we should take Trump “seriously but not literally.” THAT is the bait. The truth is we should always take him literally.
It may not specifically say that, but I think it is clear that the intention of the Amendment was to prevent another FDR-type situation of a POTUS serving more than two terms as president, period. Otherwise the amendment would never have been added to the constitution. You're right in that given the specific wording there may be some sneaky ways to try and get around it, but the clear intent of the amendment was to prevent someone from serving more than two terms, whether they became VP after two terms as POTUS and took over or whatever the situation or scheme they came up with to stay in office. So for Trump to become POTUS using some scheme like becoming VP or House Speaker and having/forcing the people above him to quit would clearly be in violation of the intention of the 22nd Amendment.This is the text of the 22nd Amendment:
"No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once."
So it doesn't say a President is limited to serving two terms; it says he's limited in the number of terms he can be elected to. I think it's fairly clear that this would not bar Trump from serving as President again if he legitimately got there in a way other than being elected as President: for example, if he were elected to VP or another position in the line of succession and then, under the existing succession rules, succeeded to the presidency due to the folks ahead of him in line dying, resigning, etc.
So to me, the obvious way for Trump to end up President again is to run as VP (or, I guess, get into the House and become speaker) and have the folks in front of him resign, or die, in his favor. (Or just leave the sitting President in place as a puppet and be the shadow president.) It would be a fairly transparent ploy to end up as President again, but it would be within the existing framework of the Constitution. Any solution where he purports to be elected as President again, though, is blatantly unconstitutional on its face.